www.diply.com

Can I have a moment of your thyme, I mean time! Snapchat can be one ‘punny’ place, ahem pardon the pun, and a social media platform that is perfect for engagement. Is your company on Snapchat? If you answered no, then this is the blog for you. There are currently 100 million active users on Snapchat and more than 10 billion Snapchat videos viewed daily. With all that interaction, your business should be using it to their advantage. Want to know how? Here are some of the best ways your company can utilize Snapchat.

Take People Behind the Scenes: Ever wonder what’s going on behind the curtain? Now is your chance to get a sneak peek. Snapchat is a great tool to show clients and viewers a look at your business and operation. A picture is worth a thousand words but a video is worth a million. Snapchat can be more powerful than Instagram and Twitter. Give people a glimpse of the atmosphere at your work, employees, or projects you are working on. This gives the public a chance to get more involved on your website, as well as increase visibility, brand awareness, and gain a following.

Use Snap Ads to Your Advantage: According to Hootsuite, a Snap Ad is a 10-second, full screen vertical video ad that appears between Stories. With a Snap Ad, advertisers give viewers the choice to swipe up from the video to see the full version, learn more, or read an article that ties in to the video. According to Snapchat, the swipe-up rate for Snap Ads is five times higher than the average click-through rate on comparable social media platforms. A good example of this is Spotify. Spotify, a music service, purchased Snap Ads to promote a campaign called “Year in Music” that allowed users to see a list of all the music they listened to that year. What were the end results? Spotify earned 26 million total views and a 30 percent increase on subscriber intent. Certainly that was music to their ears. The same can be true for you and your company.

www.community.spotify.com

Create Contests or Promotions: We all love social media giveaways, promotions, and perks. A great way for your company to utilize Snapchat is to give back to your followers. Some fun and clever ideas include, offering promo codes or discounts to anyone who watches your entire Snap story. You could also ask them to take a photo with a product of yours, your logo, or your building. GrubHub did just that with a Snapchat scavenger hunt. Each day during the five-day campaign, they asked their followers to post a daily snap, whether it was a food selfie or a drawing of food. This showcased their brand and personality, as well as allowed them to communicate with their customers. This idea gets people involved and gets your name out in the public eye for all to see. What a great sight that can be.

www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Address Relevant Issues or Hot News: Did you hear about the latest Trump tweet? What the hell is covfefe? Should Tiger Woods just avoid cars in general? Did you see the new Wonder Woman movie? People love to talk. Especially when it comes to relevant issues, pop culture, and anything going on in the news. Don’t be afraid to be a part of the discussion. Be authentic. Be engaged. Be active. Make a Snapchat addressing any one of these topics and encourage viewers to express their voice. What do they think? What are their views? By being engaged, and current, people will soon realize you up to date on current affairs, you know what you’re talking about and you care about their opinions.

Use Snapchat Lenses: What’s that on your face? Ah, it’s one of the Snapchat lenses! According to Snapchat, “To activate Lenses, Snapchatters simply press and hold their finger on their faces on their phones.” Some Lenses include prompts like ‘raise your eyebrows’ to trigger an animation, adding a fun twist to the experience. Basically a lens is a selfie with goofy animations. They add animations to your face. To active a Snapchat lens, o to the Camera screen in Snapchat. Tap on a face! The lens options will appear below. Swipe left to select the lens you want to use and follow any action prompts that appear. You then tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a video. When you’re finished playing, it’s easy to send Lenses to a friend or post one to your Story. On average, Snapchatters play with a Sponsored Lens for 20 seconds. As for cost, according to wallaroommedia, a general rule of thumb for Snapchat Sponsored Lenses costs is this: $450,000 per day Sunday through Thursday, $500,000 for Fridays and Saturdays, and $700,000 plus for holidays or special events (like the Super Bowl). If you’re looking for a cheaper route try a Snapchat Geofilter. According to Hootsuite, Snapchat has two types of custom Geofilters that businesses can take advantage of: On-Demand Geofilters, which start at $5, and the much pricier option of Sponsored Geofilters, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Geofilters are small art graphics that show up on your snap. These can be a great way to bring in business.

www.snapchat.com

www.snapchat.com

So, how can you use these to your company’s advantage? Let’s say you sell tacos, make a lens that turns users faces into just that!

www.youtube.com

If your company is a bank or credit union, have money falling from the sky or have the users face turn into Benjamin Franklin. The ideas are endless. Get creative and have fun with it.

Snapchat is a great way to give your company a voice and start a conversation. It’s fun, simple, and impactful. According to Hootsuite, Snapchat had 5 million daily users in 2013, but that number has now increased to 100 million. Those numbers are only expected to grow. So get your business involved. Take people behind the scenes, use snap ads, create promotions, address relevant issues, and use those snapchat lenses to your advantage. By doing so you will increase your brand awareness, interact with viewers and potential clients in an entertaining way, and start a conversation. What are you waiting for? Snap away!

 

Plaid Swan Inc. is a female owned and operated marketing communications firm with multiple offices located in the Midwest. Looking to make your company’s blog stand out? Don’t have a blog, but want one? What’s a BLOG? Contact us today to see how we can bring your brand to a new stellar level!

 Plaid Swan: (563) 556-1633

Email: betsy@plaidswan.com

-Haley Corkery │ Public Relations Specialist